The Four Seasons
by Kalta79
Summary: More of life on the farm for Reno and Tifa, starting with the end of their first Christmas together(my Betting The Farm story) and ending with their first Thanksgiving together.
1. Chapter 1

Reno sat on the couch in the living room, staring at the fire, while Tifa put Christmas dinner away and did the dishes. He would have helped put her dinner away, because it was dark out and snowing and she was pregnant with his child, but the root cellar entrance was just on the side of the house. And Reno needed some time to process things…if it had been a different woman, he'd demand a paternity test. But he knew Tifa well enough that if she said it was his child, it was, because if she could be faithful to Cloud for all those years while waiting for him to want to be with her, she would certainly be faithful to him while he was gone for a while on business, even if they only had that one night together. But he was still going to be a father!

"Okay, that's all done." Tifa's voice interrupted his thoughts, coming into the living room with a platter of two steaming mugs of cocoa and Christmas cookies on it. She put the platter down on the coffee table and handed a mug to Reno before sitting down next to him with her own mug. "It's coming down hard out there. We might be snowed in for a few days if this keeps up overnight." Tifa spoke from experience as she sipped her cocoa.

"You mean we can't leave the house?" Reno had been trapped before, but that was during missions where luck aided him in getting out alive. Being stuck somewhere because of the weather didn't make sense to him, unless it was like a hurricane or something.

"We can go outside, but only to the barn and coop to take care of the animals, or to the root cellar for food. Oh and to bring in firewood from the porch, but…oh!" Tifa suddenly cried out.

"What's wrong?" Reno asked.

"Nothing's wrong." Tifa grabbed his hand and put it on her belly which had only recently started to bulge out. "Someone else is glad you're home."

Reno felt the movements and wanted to pull his hand away, but he couldn't. That was _his_ child in there. He smiled as he felt the evidence that the baby was obviously a feisty one. Tifa smiled at his expression as he felt their child greet him.

"Welcome home." she said, and kissed him. She had meant it to be a simple platonic gesture, since despite the fact that they were legally married with a child on the way, they really didn't know each other all that well. But their bodies' reaction to that kiss was anything but platonic.

"The baby…" Reno protested, even though he had been looking forward to being with her again. His homecoming wasn't what he expected it to be.

"It's perfectly safe as long as we're careful." Tifa reassured him as she started unbuttoning his shirt. The idea of her husband making love to her in front of the fire with a blizzard outside on Christmas suddenly became irresistible to her.

 _If we had been careful the first time, Tifa wouldn't be pregnant now_. Reno thought as he helped her out of her holiday dress. He was gentle enough that they were both surprised by the intensity of their reunion. Tifa felt herself explode over and over again amongst the stars, until she reluctantly came back down to Earth, where Reno was trying to catch his breath. He hadn't expected having sex with her again to be as intense as the first time just before he left.

"Welcome home." Tifa repeated with a smile.

"It's good to be home." Reno said as they curled up in each other's arms and fell asleep.

* * *

Tifa woke up the next morning feeling a little cold, and realized the fire had gone out, and she and Reno were naked on the couch. She tried to carefully extricate herself from him so he could sleep in, but he woke up anyway.

"If you'll restart the fire, I'll start coffee and breakfast." Tifa told him as she hurriedly got her holiday dress back on. Reno nodded as he put his clothes back on.

As she got the cookstove going, Tifa thought about his homecoming. She was glad to have him back, but she wouldn't lie to herself. She didn't love Reno. She cared for him, but it wasn't love, not yet. They were technically a married couple, and she was expecting their first child, but they still didn't know each other that well. Tifa wasn't worried though, it wasn't that hard to play his loving wife, and then one day she would wake up and realize she wasn't playing anymore, because she really did love him.

Reno felt glad there was something he was capable of doing around the farm. But he didn't need any stupid matches…he grabbed his weapon out of his suitcase and aimed it at the logs, activating the taser. He smiled with delight at the flames, then he heard Tifa call out that coffee was ready.

As Reno sat down at the kitchen table, he fervently hoped that she never found out that the first month he was gone, he had started picking up women in bars again. But he had given up, because he always ended up feeling guilty, and confused as to why he felt guilty. Then he would end up feeling pain as the women would get pissed off at his callous behavior the next morning and he got quite a few slaps and one black eye. Eventually he had figured out it was because of Tifa, and that was one of the reasons he had called in a favor to get them retroactively married, their wedding day now officially the day she moved in. If he couldn't sleep with other women, he might as well be married. He was glad he had done it now that he knew he had gotten her pregnant.

"Scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon for the man of the house." Tifa said, putting his plate down in front of him, before going back to counter for her plate.

Reno just stared at her breakfast. There were pancakes, eggs, toast, hash browns, sausage links, and bacon on her plate. "Are you going to eat all that?"

"No, they're eating most of it, I'm just the messenger." Tifa said as she patted her stomach, then she heard scratching at the front door.

"Oh, would you please let the puppies back in?" she asked her husband. "I had to let them out onto the porch because there's too much snow out the back here. We're gonna have to shovel paths out to the barn and coop to take care of the animals after breakfast."

"I'll clear the paths. I don't want you getting hurt." Reno said before going to let Miss Fit and Miss Chievous back into the house, who followed him back into the kitchen. They instant went to the kitten box that Tifa had put near the cookstove so they could stay warm.

"No!" Tifa exclaimed when she heard the kittens trying to hiss at the intruders. The puppies instantly stopped and came over to the kitchen table, wagging their tails, where she petted both of them and told them they were good girls.

"How'd you get them to do that?" Reno asked.

"It's called training." Tifa smiled as she sipped her tea. The dogs were a lot easier to train than Reno was proving to be for farm life, but she was in a position to persevere.


	2. Chapter 2

As Tifa put the dishes in the sink to wash after dinner, Reno opened the kitchen door and surveyed the mounds of snow that needed to be cleared between the house and the barn and the coop.

"Close the door!" Tifa exclaimed. "Don't let the heat out!"

"Sorry." Reno mumbled as he shut the door. "We need a flamethrower here. Wouldn't take anytime at all to clear a path with one of those."

Tifa just stared at him til he felt that he had embarrassed himself somehow. Was he a man who couldn't function without all the destructive toys he got play with at work? "That would just melt the snow and then it would turn to ice overnight." she explained.

"A flamethrower can melt ice too." Reno persisted.

"We do things differently here." Tifa gently said and handed him the snow shovel that she had kept just inside the door. "I'll keep the kettle going, so you can have some hot cocoa when you get back inside. Though if you'd wear your flannels and jeans, you'd be warmer." She kissed him on the cheek and opened the door again.

"I'm warm enough. And I'm not wearing those! I'm a Turk!" Reno exclaimed as he started shoveling right away so he had a place to stand outside to close the door.

Tifa just shook her head as she went to check the fire in the living room. "He'll learn eventually." she told the puppies. "Especially if he has some help."

Reno came back in a few minutes later and hurried to the living room, plopping himself down in front of the fire. "Tifa?" he called out as his hands started regaining feeling in them.

"I'm upstairs, getting things ready." she replied.

"Ready for what?" he asked himself, curious, then went upstairs and found her in the master bedroom, cleaning it.

"Are you done shoveling already?" she asked him.

"Uh, no, not yet. What are you doing?"

"Now that you're home, we can move in here. We don't need separate bedrooms anymore. We are married, after all."

"Um, I'm gonna go finish shoveling." Reno hurriedly left the room. He was excited by the prospect of sleeping with Tifa every night, but at the same time he felt that somehow this wasn't a positive development…it almost felt like he was being neutered.

Tifa smiled to herself after he left. She didn't want to be alone anymore, but that wasn't the main reason for sharing the same bedroom. She could monitor his wardrobe and get him looking like a farmer before he knew what hit him. That was the first step, then once he looked like a farmer, he would be more inclined to act like one.

* * *

Reno got the shoveling done by lunchtime, with frequent trips back to the fire to warm up, insisting to Tifa every time that he was warm enough in his Turk uniform.

"You can move your stuff into our bedroom while I'm taking care of the animals." Tifa informed him as she bundled up and grabbed the milk pails and the egg basket.

Reno still didn't have much stuff, so in five minutes he was all moved in. He stuck his weapon under the pillow on his side of the bed, making sure the taser tip was facing the nightstand and not towards Tifa. After that he went downstairs and stayed in front of the fire for a few more minutes, then decided to go check on his wife. He opened the back door and looked around, wondering where she was.

"Ti…" Reno started to call out, but as soon as he opened his a mouth, a snowball hit him in the face, most of it ending up in his mouth. Spitting it out, he looked around and saw Tifa ducking behind a tree. He ran for her, but not before he got pelted again. Reaching her hiding spot, he grabbed her. "You think that's funny, do you?" Reno asked grumpily as she giggled at him.

"No, I think this is." Tifa said as she grabbed the biggest snowball from her pile and put it securely on top of his spiky hair. "I crown you King of Higglebottom Farm!"

Reno just stared at her as the snow started to melt and run down his face. This was not the serious Tifa he knew. Is this what pregnancy did to women? Tifa giggled again as she picked up the milk pails and the egg basket before heading back to the house. Reno came back inside a few moments later and made himself a cup of cocoa.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" he asked Tifa as she separated the milk into different jars. "And how come you don't put it all in the same jar?"

"Because goat's milk is for drinking, the cow's milk for butter making since it takes less work to churn into butter than goat milk does, and both are for cheese making, but I still have to keep them separate because of their differing structures, chemically speaking if you will." Tifa explained. "And I don't know the gender of our baby yet, I want to be surprised."

Reno was hoping for a boy, because then he could teach them how to blow stuff up. A girl would spend more time with Tifa and not be that interested in what he knew. Reno had wanted a family when he was a kid, but eventually he had decided it was not a good idea with the life he had ended up leading, and now he had one pretty much just dropped in his lap.

* * *

"I'm off to do the nightly rounds." Tifa said after they had finished a dinner of holiday leftovers. This time she grabbed a flashlight along with the milk pails after she had bundled up.

Tifa was just about to open the kitchen door when a snowball hit her arm. "What the…? Reno!" she exclaimed.

"There is no Reno, only the King of Higglebottom Farm!" she heard him say in an odd voice."

Trying to figure out where he was, she got pelted by another one. Putting down the milk pails and making her own snowball from the mound next to the path, she threw it in that direction.

"Ha! You mis…mph!" As Reno stepped out of his hiding spot to taunt his wife, another snowball got him in the mouth again.

Tifa smiled and opened the door when she felt herself being grabbed, and snow being shoved down the back of her sweater and she shrieked. "Now I'm freezing!"

"Do you surrender to your king now that I've captured you?" Reno asked, putting his arms around her. "Or do I need to victoriously battle you some more?"

"What do I get if I surrender?" Tifa asked, wanting to hurry up and get inside by the fire.

"You get to be Queen of Higglebottom Farm and birther of the heirs to the throne!" Reno announced, kissing her.

"Fine, I surrender. Now let me inside, you're freezing and making me cold." Tifa pleaded.

"The Queen's wish shall be obeyed." Reno picked her up and carried her through the kitchen, but he went upstairs instead of to the living room.

"The fire's in the living room, I need to warm up." Tifa reminded him.

"We're going to both warm up a different way." Reno told her as he carried her to their bedroom.

The look in his eyes made her pulse quicken as he laid her down on their bed. They hurriedly undressed, and Tifa quickly forgot all about being cold as Reno's hands ran over her body, causing her nerves to sizzle. She was more than ready to have him inside her again, and he was just as gentle as last night, and their climaxes just as intense.

"Good night, my Queen." Reno said as he lay on his side of the bed, putting his arms around her again, his hands resting on her extended stomach so he could feel their child move in his sleep.

"Good night, my King." As Tifa closed her eyes to wait for sleep, she knew she would come to love him, sooner than expected.


	3. Chapter 3

"Come on, it won't hurt!" Tifa exclaimed.

"Get away from me!" Reno yelled, diving for the bed to grab his weapon, and started waving it at her. He had been home for a week, and already the honeymoon was over…now he remembered why he had lost interest in marriage over the years.

"It's just a haircut! The New Year's Eve party starts in two hours and it's about time you started making a good impression on our neighbors!" Tifa approached him with the scissors.

"I will not be neutered!" Reno tried to feint to the right and then make a dash for the door on the left, but Tifa tackled him with all of her pregnancy weight and pinned him to the floor. His weapon rolled out of his hand and under the dresser.

"Stay still! I don't want to decapitate you!" Tifa grabbed his ponytail with her free hand and snipped with the other as Reno wailed about castration. "There, now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Tifa stood up and went to put the scissors back in the kitchen, stopping in the doorway of their bedroom to look at Reno, who was cradling his ponytail in his hands and looking like he just lost his best friend. Tifa really hoped she was carrying a girl, she didn't know if she wanted her first child to be a melodramatic boy in men's clothing like their father.

* * *

"Tifa! You made it!" A woman approached Tifa and hugged her as she and Reno walked into the community center.

"Yes, and I'd like you to meet my husband, Reno Sinclair. Reno, this is Emily Walker. You remember, I told you that she and her husband Ray own the farm to the west of us, and that since she's a licensed midwife, I kind of put her on retainer in case you didn't get back in time to get me to hospital." Tifa explained after introducing them.

"Nice to meet you." Reno said offhandedly. "Where's the booze?"

Emily stared at him as Tifa elbowed him slightly. "I mean where's the bathroom?" Reno corrected, frowning. Tifa pointed it out and Reno hurried out of sight.

Emily had never seen a more conspicuous looking man, or one looking more gloomy, than Tifa's husband. If not for his unusual appearance that made his stand out when they had first arrived, the gossip mill would have declared Tifa's absentee husband as fictional.

"I'm sorry about that. He had a bad day." Tifa told Emily.

"Don't worry about that dear, I'm just glad that you won't be alone in your final trimester."

"Me too, though sometimes I feel like I have a baby already." Tifa admitted.

"I wish I could tell you he'll grow out of it, but they never really do, just ask any of the wives here …and you never heard me say that. Look at the bright side, he could fit right in here with our husbands with that attitude." Emily whispered as she led Tifa to reintroduce her to the farmers' wives she had met at the Christmas party.

As eleven o'clock neared, Tifa saw Reno sitting off by himself near the punch bowl, and sat down next to him. "How come you aren't talking to the other men?"

"Cause I don't know what the hell they're talking about." Reno pouted. This was the first social event he had been to in years where he was the odd man out. "And I'm still mad at you."

"Well, Grumpy, I just wanted to let you know that the women all think you're special." Tifa informed him.

"Really?" Reno asked.

"Yes. They've never seen anyone like you before." Tifa said in all honesty, and kissed him on the cheek and smiled as he brightened up. She had told him the truth, he just didn't need to know that it wasn't exactly a compliment.

Reno felt better about not talking to any of the men, he didn't wanna cause any problems. Their wives might be interested, but he was spoken for. Maybe he wasn't neutered after all. Just to let everyone know where he stood, when midnight struck, he picked Tifa up in his arms and kissed her passionately, causing a few gasps and camera flashes in the room, and someone commented that Tifa would be pregnant for the next ten years if that kept up.

"Look at this!" Tifa threw the newspaper down on the kitchen table when Reno sat down to have his morning coffee and wait for breakfast.

"Hey, that's a good picture!" Reno said as he saw their New Year's kiss on the front page with the caption _New Lovebirds Take Flight_. Reno went on to read how no one remembered seeing such a display at the New Year's Eve festivities in decades, and the speculation on their relationship…someone even suggested they were paid for such displays in the big cities.

"I don't want our child growing up hearing rumours about us!" Tifa stormed out of the house to milk Betty and Jeanine, while Reno carefully cut out that article and put it in a glass picture frame he had found while cleaning up the place when they first moved in.

* * *

"What is that?" Elena asked as they received a special delivery envelope two days later at the apartment they had moved into together.

"It's some kind of newspaper clipping that's been laminated." Rude told her as he opened the envelope and it fell out. "Oh, it's Reno showing off again." He handed it to Elena, who got a look of patient annoyance with her new boss' antics. _I'M STILL A MAN!_ he had written and circled with a permanent marker below the article.


	4. Chapter 4

Tifa woke up to her cellphone ringing. "Hello?" she sleepily answered.

"It was you, wasn't it?" a female voice wanted to know.

"Excuse me? Who is this?"

"Oh, sorry. This is Elena. I wanted to know if it was you who gave Reno the haircut. He sent us the article of you two on New Year's Eve last month."

"He did what?!" Tifa exclaimed, bolting out of the couch. She had been sleeping there the past couple weeks because it was easier than going up and down the stairs all the time with the extra weight she was now carrying, and everything she needed to do was on the first floor or outside anyway.

"I wanted to thank you. I've wanted to cut off that damned ponytail for years. I would have called sooner, but Rude wouldn't give me your phone number, so I had to use my own methods to find it. Oh, he's waking up now, so thanks again." Elena quickly hung up.

Tifa stared at the phone, then got out of bed and hurried to the kitchen to get breakfast going. Reno had enjoyed being responsible for taking care of the fireplace, and she was glad to let him, even if it wasn't hard to figure out that he just wanted to play with his taser and show off. But that's exactly why she didn't trust him in the kitchen.

"Coffee isn't ready yet?" Reno asked when he came into the kitchen a few minutes later.

"Pipes are frozen. I had to melt snow for water and that takes longer than you think." Tifa explained.

"We have no water?"

"Silly, I just said I melted snow. We're not out of water, it's just that the pipes are frozen."

"Then what's that on the floor?" Reno pointed to liquid at Tifa's feet.

"I don't…" Tifa was interrupted by sharp pains in her stomach, and she grabbed the counter to try and stay standing.

"What is it?" Reno rushed to her side as she cried out.

"It's the baby! Something's wrong…it's too early!" Tifa couldn't keep the fear out of her voice.

"Don't worry." Reno picked her up and carried her to the couch, trying not to panic himself as he saw blood dripping down her leg. He laid her down on the couch and made her as comfortable as he could. "It's only a baby, how hard can it be? I'll go make you some cocoa to calm you down." Reno hurried into the kitchen, in his own panic being careless and he slipped on the wet floor, slamming his head into the counter.

"Reno? What was that? Reno…are you okay? Reno!" Tifa screamed out his name as another contraction seized her. She tried to get off the couch to go into the kitchen and check on him and get her cellphone, but she fell onto the floor and couldn't get back up. Trying to ignore the weakness she felt, Tifa started crawling. Miss Fit and Miss Chievous ran around her, as if trying to guard her. She was passing the bottom of the stairs when the contractions became even more painful and quicker. She tried to make it to the front door, and she got her hand on the doorknob when she passed out, opening the door and she lay there in the doorway exposed to the cold.

* * *

"Tifa!" Reno woke up and blurted out his wife's name, bolting upright and then falling back onto the bed when his head started pounding terribly. He was surprised to find himself in the hospital.

"Don't worry, Reno, everything's okay now." He turned his head in the direction of her voice, and saw her in the bed next to him. She seemed quite pale, but she was smiling at him.

"What happened?" he asked, wishing his head would quit hurting so he could think.

"Miss Fit and Miss Chievous ran over to the Walker's farm, and Emily and her husband were worried and came over to return them and make sure we were okay. They drove us here because it was quicker than waiting for the ambulance." Tifa informed him. "Oh and it's a boy." Tifa's smiled widened.

The doctor came in a few minutes later and told them that Tifa had to stay for observation to make sure she was recovered, because the reason she went into premature labor was due to an undiagnosed case of preeclampsia, and she also had a slight case of hypothermia when she was brought in. Their son was lucky and was developed enough that he wouldn't need to spend much time at the hospital, most likely a couple weeks. Reno just had a concussion and could go home at any time.

"I'm staying here with you." Reno told Tifa when the doctor left.

"You need to go home and check on the animals." she reminded him.

"I'll call the Walkers and see if they'll do it. I'm not leaving you." Reno said with a stubborn look on his face.

Tifa sighed and didn't protest anymore, which was a relief to Reno. He did want to make sure Tifa was okay, but he also didn't want to be home where he'd have to milk Betty and Jeanine. Even just thinking about it made him feel dirty, and not in a good way…it made him feel violated.

A nurse poked her head in the room just then. "I've got a surprise guest for you." the nurse said as she wheeled in the incubator holding their son.

Tifa wished more than anything that she could hold her dark-haired son. "I'd like to call him Daniel, after my grandfather."

Reno didn't hear her, he was too engrossed in his own thoughts as he stared at their son. He had avoided babies whenever possible, but he couldn't avoid his own. "He's so tiny…"

"He'll grow fast, don't worry." The nurse reassured him. "And he's really not that small, we've got quite a few smaller preemies, and even some full-term babies that are smaller. He's five pounds and seven ounces."

"What do you think about the name Daniel?" Tifa tried to get Reno's attention.

"That's fine." Reno agreed in a distracted tone as he watched their son flail his arms and legs around. He wondered how long it would be until he could teach him how to install bugs in phones.

"I'll tell the doctor so the birth certificate can be finished." The nurse said as she looked at her watch. "I've got to get this little guy back now, you can see him again in a few hours."

Tifa tried to get out of bed to follow the nurse, but Reno restrained her. "You heard her, she'll bring him back. And you need to rest…I guess childbirth is harder than I thought. At least it's over." He told his wife.

"For now." Tifa amended his statement.

"Huh?"

"It's over for now. But farmers need to have large families." Tifa stated.

Reno just stared at her as she smiled at him, and when he passed out and hit his head again, she calmly pushed the call button to have the nurse come and assist him. Tifa had expected that reaction from him, that's why she told him about her plans for more children when medical care was available.


	5. Chapter 5

"Glad to see Reno isn't letting fatherhood cramp his style. These are high quality." Rude said as he sniffed one of the cigars Reno had mailed them with a note that said _IT'S A BOY!_

Elena wrinkled her nose as Rude lit the cigar in bed. She didn't like the smell of them, but she was used to it. And if it helped relax him, so much the better for her announcement. It seemed like the perfect time. "Do you remember our New Year's celebration?" she asked as she cuddled against him.

"Yeah…" Rude drawled with a smile at the memory as he started caressing her. The feel of her firm flesh against his bare skin aroused him as it usually did. "We can repeat that as soon as I'm done with this cigar."

"We can't repeat it, at least not til next year."

"So that's our new holiday tradition?"

"It can be, but that's not quite what I meant. Do you remember what we forgot to do in the heat of the moment?" Elena tried to get him to figure it out for himself.

"I don't think there wasn't anything we forgot to do." Rude goosed her.

Elena sighed and decided on the direct approach. She took his free hand and put it on her flat stomach. "There was just one." Rude's jaw dropped and his arm fell to dangle off the side of the bed. "Be more careful!" Elena exclaimed as she leaned over and picked the still lit cigar up off the carpet and put it in the ashtray. "That is what we forgot to do, be careful."

* * *

Tifa fought an urge to tell Reno to hurry up and drive faster. They didn't need an accident, not now. It was March 1st already, and they were picking Daniel up from the hospital and taking him home today.

"Here are the release papers for you to sign." the nurse handed them to Reno as Tifa was distracted by pacing back and forth waiting for another nurse to bring Daniel out from the nursery.

"There's your mommy." A nurse came out holding Daniel, and it was all Tifa could to do not to rip her son out of the nurse's arms. She covered Daniel's face with kisses once she had hold of him.

"Let's take you home now. We've been waiting a long time to have you." Tifa told Daniel as Reno followed her back out to the car. "You're going to love it at home. When you get older, you'll have so many animals to play with, and you'll be the oldest of your brothers and sisters."

Reno kept one eye on the road on the drive home, and one on Tifa and Daniel as Tifa went on and on about how wonderful everything would be for him. "You're planning on spoiling him, and he probably doesn't even know what you're talking about." Reno commented as they got out of the car and walked into their house, unable to keep disapproval out of his voice, but he didn't want a momma's boy. That was Sephiroth and the Remnants' problem, and he didn't want his son following in their footsteps.

"He's going to have a happy childhood, and that's final!" Tifa insisted, glaring at him, then she softened. "I know you want your son to have a better childhood than we did." She lightly put her hand on his arm. "Don't you?" Tifa kissed his cheek when he didn't respond before taking Daniel upstairs.

As they lay in bed that night, with Daniel in his crib at the foot of their because Tifa wanted him close by for when he needed to be fed or changed overnight, Reno turned on his side to look at Tifa. "What do you know about my childhood?" he asked her.

"That it wasn't much different than mine, because it must not have ended up any happier than mine if you turned out like you did." Tifa put her hand on his cheek.

"What do you mean by that?" Reno was sure there must be an insult in there somewhere, but there was nothing but understanding in Tifa's eyes.

"Your reputation with women." she explained. "I've seen you in action at 7th Heaven, don't forget."

"So?" Reno didn't get what was wrong with that. He was proud of his reputation.

"It never seemed enough for you, like you were going through those women at record speed to find something you had lost." Tifa continued, and when Reno was silent, she kissed him. "I'm not trying to criticize you, I just want you to know that I want you to do what you need to be happy. I want Daniel growing up in a loving house, not a contentious one."

"You love me?" Reno's voice came out funny. He was totally out of his element now and her giving her unconditional support further surprised him.

"I know I can, and I think I will one day soon." Tifa said and kissed him. "After all, you're the King of Higglebottom Farm, remember? What's not to love?"

* * *

Reno laid in bed the next morning, listening to Tifa move around downstairs in the kitchen. Her revelations the night before had shaken him. He wasn't sure what she expected of him. She had told him to do what made him happy, which could be construed as her permission to have other women, because she loved their son and wanted him to grow up in a happy home. But he knew that Tifa was the faithful type, and she also said that she could love him. It was too confusing, so he focused on what he knew, getting breakfast.

"What are these?" Reno gestured at all the catalogs on the table.

"Nursery and farm equipment catalogs." Tifa said as she sat down next to him. "Spring is coming soon, and I want to start my garden plots as soon as I can. And you should have no problem with all the machinery you're going to have to use to plant crops. You can fly a helicopter, so tractors and plows should be easier for you." Tifa said as she started eating breakfast, hoping she wasn't lying.

"Why are these are so expensive?" Reno asked as he looked at her nursery catalogs.

"Because I only want non-GMO plants in my gardens. SOLDIER and Deepground were GMOs, and look how that turned out. And if you think my catalogs are expensive, check yours out." Tifa handed him one of the catalogs with tractors and plows. She smiled at his rebellious look as he looked at the prices, then kissed him on the cheek. "Daniel's sleeping, so I'm going to go collect eggs and milk Betty and Jeanine." Tifa grabbed the basket and pails and headed out the door. She just hoped that he wouldn't try and tinker with the machinery when it arrived to try and turn them into some kind of combat vehicle. They were already dangerous enough without needing any help in that respect.


	6. Chapter 6

"Careful!" Tifa snapped at Reno as she saw his shoes approach the flower bed she was planting at the moment. "I don't want these flowers ruined."

"You sound just like Aerith when I would visit her." Reno commented, then realized maybe he shouldn't have said that. "Why are you doing that now?"

Tifa stood up and brushed the dirt off her jeans and took her gloves off, looking up at the dark clouds in the distance and then at her husband. "What happened to you? You're filthy!" she exclaimed in disgust at his mud-covered body.

"I was trying to plow the field like you showed me, and somehow I plowed up an irrigation pipe." Reno reluctantly explained before starting up the porch steps. "I need a shower."

"Don't you dare go in the house like that!" Tifa loudly protested. "Go around to the back door and I'll meet you there." When he walked up to the kitchen door, Tifa was there with a bathrobe. "Hurry up and strip. Leave your clothes outside." she said as she opened the door.

Reno walked into the kitchen naked, and saw Daniel there in his playpen, and he seemed to be laughing at them. "Don't laugh at this, little buddy. If I didn't strip when your mommy told me to, you wouldn't be here." Reno said as he put the bathrobe on.

"Now go to the bathroom to wash up and I'll have lunch ready when you come out." Tifa told him.

"I only have three good suits left." Reno complained as they ate lunch. "These are special, the new Turk uniforms being made aren't the same."

"Why not?" Tifa asked, as curious as she was hopeful. Maybe she'd get him into proper farm wear before the month was out.

"The tailor had an accident with, um, an incinerator." Reno looked down at his plate. "The special process he used to make our uniforms died with him." A thunderclap interrupted anything else he might have said about that. "Is it going to rain?" Reno asked.

Tifa looked out the kitchen window, and then went outside, quickly coming back inside. "The sky's turning green. We've got to get to the root cellar now." She ran upstairs, coming back moments later with Daniel's diaper bag. "Could you grab our sleeping bags and flashlights?" she asked Reno as she grabbed their son and headed outside. "Miss Fit! Miss Chievous!" Tifa called out as she opened the doors to the root cellar basement. The dogs came running up to her and followed her inside.

Reno appeared in the doorway with a huge box in his hands. He carefully came down the steps. "The wind's getting bad out there." he told Tifa as he put the box down on the ground, then closed and secured the door.

"It's not good to have a storm like this so early…it's only April. I just hope the livestock and our barn cats don't get hurt if a tornado hits us. What's in the box?"

"Flashlights, " Reno started explaining, turning it on so they could see. "The sleeping bags, my mp3 player, jujubes, microwave popcorn, digital camcorder, pretzels, and a six-pack."

Tifa just stared at him. This was a tornado, not a sports game. "Why do you have microwave popcorn when we don't have a microwave?"

"I just start my car, and when it's hot enough, I put the bag under the hood. Popcorn in no time!" Reno smiled, waiting for Tifa to be impressed with his ingenuity.

The storm saved her from having to say anything, as the sounds outside got worse and louder. Reno grabbed the camcorder and aimed the flashlight at Daniel and started filming.

"What are you doing?" Tifa asked as she got her sleeping bag and unrolled it onto the ground.

"I'm recording our son's first tornado, if that's what this is. Look how calm he is. That's Turk material right there." Reno proudly proclaimed.

"That's not his calm face, that's his just-peed-my-pants expression." Tifa corrected him, and got the wipes and fresh diaper out of the diaper bag to change him. Once that was done, she took everything out of the box Reno brought, then took the blanket out of the diaper bag and put it in the box, then laid Daniel gently in his makeshift crib. She noticed Reno had stopped recording their son and was listening to his mp3 player and was starting to sing along to the music. She put her hand on his arm to get his attention.

"What?" he asked.

"I just wanted to let you know that Daniel and I don't need to be sedated, we're tired enough already, so would you mind just lip syncing while we nap?"

"Uh, okay." Reno said. "You're sleeping now?"

"Yes, I'll need energy to clean up whatever mess there is after the storm. And thank you." As she laid down on her sleeping bag, she wondered why he would listen to a song about sedation.

* * *

Tifa woke up to find Reno asleep next to her, his arms around her. She turned on her side to look at him still in his bathrobe, which was barely covering him now. He did look better without the ponytail, and Tifa realized she must be well on her to loving him, because when she first arrived on the farm, he still looked somewhat odd to her, but now he was looking quite attractive to her. She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"What's going on?" Reno asked as he opened his eyes when he felt her lips on his cheek.

"I'm just admiring my attractive husband." Tifa replied with a smile.

"Um, about what I said about Aerith earlier…" Reno felt a sudden urge to explain.

"If it's in the past, it's in the past. I don't need you to tell me everything, just please don't lie to me when you do tell me." Tifa said and kissed him again, this time on the lips. Reno's arms tightened around her, and before she knew what she was doing, she had unzipped her jeans and was taking them off as Reno was taking her top off. Her body eagerly welcomed his, and she was grateful that he was so good in bed. Tifa needed to have her body explode in pleasure to help her cope with whatever damage they saw when they left the root cellar.

As Reno thrust into his wife, he was grateful that she had told him that he didn't have to tell her everything. He didn't want to hurt her. It surprised Reno to realize how important it was to him now to make her happy, and not just in bed. But for now, he could do that. He smiled as she started to cry out, and his own body experienced such a sweet release.

A few minutes later after laying in each other's arms, Tifa started getting dressed again. "Let's go see what happened outside." she said as she unbarred the door and opened it. The dogs, who had been resting in the corner, ran outside barking.

Reno fixed his bathrobe and tied it securely before picking up his sleeping son out of the box and grabbing the diaper bag, following his wife outside. There were branches and other natural debris all over the backyard, with some roof shingles mixed in. Tifa gasped as she saw the chicken coop in shambles. The barn roof was missing some boards, and she ran over to check on the livestock and cats. Reno followed her, and Tifa was calming down the horses when he walked in.

"It looks like everyone's okay in here, just a bit scared." Tifa told him as they were both surprised to hear squawking. Looking up, they saw their chickens up in the hayloft. "They must have somehow escaped and sought shelter here." Tifa was relieved. "Now would you mind putting Daniel back in his playpen and getting dressed to help me clean up?" she asked her husband.

"Fine, but I'm not risking any more of my Turk uniforms. I'll wear your Christmas present instead." Reno said in a tone to convey that he was doing her a huge favor.

Tifa kept her head down so he wouldn't see her smiling.


	7. Chapter 7

On May 20th, the one-year anniversary of Tifa's arrival at Higglebottom Farm, she woke up early, hearing Daniel cry. She carefully got out of bed so as not to wake Reno up, and went to the bedroom they were using as their son's nursery. Once he started a more regular sleeping schedule, she had agreed to Reno's request that Daniel have his own room. He lessened his volume once he was in his mother's arms, but he didn't stop entirely until she changed his diaper. Taking him downstairs, she put him in his playpen that was always in the kitchen, so that she could start the cookstove heating up for coffee and breakfast. When she was preparing to feed Daniel breakfast, Reno came downstairs. "Hey honey, would you mind going and collecting the eggs for me this morning?" she asked her husband. "The basket's there on the counter."

"Fine." He grabbed the basket, then grabbed his weapon which he kept by the kitchen door, since he never went out into livestock territory without it. Once in the coop, he went straight for the nesting boxes. Suddenly he heard a noise behind him and he activated the taser tip and struck out with his weapon on pure reflex.

Tifa was washing her hands after putting Daniel back in his crib when Reno burst back into the kitchen.

"Look Tifa, it's instant fried chicken!" Reno proudly exclaimed as he held up the blackened and still smoking corpse of their rooster.

"Um, that's really nice, dear, but did you get the eg…" Tifa had reached to take the chicken from him, but when he relinquished his grip on it, he accidentally reactivated the taser tip of his weapon which was right behind the rooster. "Re…en…no!" Tifa tried to yell at him again as she once again lay on the floor in spasms.

Reno took one look at his contorting wife and ran like hell out the door and to the barn. Scrambling up into the hayloft, he burrowed himself in the hay until he came face to face with the raccoon family. "Ssssssssssshhhhhhhhhh!" he quietly said. "She'll never think to look for me here."

As Tifa slowly regained control of her body, she realized it was going to be a lifelong project to turn Reno into a proper farmer, and she hoped she'd survive long enough to achieve it. She got up eventually and cleaned up the remains of the rooster. Miss Fit and Miss Chievous had eaten most of it while she was laying on the floor. Then she grabbed the milk pails and headed out to the barn. She noticed Reno's weapon laying on the ground next to the ladder up to the hayloft, and as she led Betty out of her stall to the milking stand, she talked to the goat. "You know, it's a shame I don't know where Reno is, because I was going to make his favorite dessert to celebrate what is technically our one-year wedding anniversary as soon as I'm done here." Tifa spoke loudly.

"Frosted chocolate cake with sprinkles on top?" Reno cautiously poked his head over the edge of the hayloft.

"And homemade ice cream." Tifa smiled as he came back down the ladder.

"Mint chocolate chip ice cream?" Reno asked.

"Of course. But _you_ have to milk Betty and Jeanine so I can get started on our anniversary meal." Tifa kissed his cheek as she handed him the milking pails before heading back to the house.

Reno just stared down at the pails then caught Betty's eyes as she casually looked at him from the milking stand. "I think I just got played…"

* * *

Tifa set up the solar panel for the solar generator. After the tornado scare last month, they decided wind power could cause problems in a bad storm. A solar generator would provide enough power for Reno's tele-commuting equipment and it was easily portable. Then she got the countertop ice maker and the manual ice cream maker out of a bottom cupboard. She put them and all the ingredients except the milk on the counter, and was starting to make the cake batter when Reno came back inside.

"Why are those pails empty?" Tifa asked him when he set them down on the floor and she glanced inside them.

"Jeanine didn't like me." Reno said, and then she noticed a black eye on his face.

Tifa sighed, then got out the extension cord to plug in the ice maker to the generator. Once she had ice, she wrapped some ice in a dish towel and gave it to Reno to put on his eye, before continuing preparations for their anniversary dinner.

* * *

Reno was excited when Tifa put a platter of homemade food, not only steak fajitas, including the tortillas, but Philly steak sandwiches as well, in the middle of the table. He started to grab some to put on his plate, then waited for her to sit down as well, once she started the ice cream maker. "Are there jalapenos in everything?" Reno asked hopefully.

"Of course." Tifa said. She didn't like spicy food all that well, but he did, it seemed to be a basic food requirement for him.

After dessert, she was surprised when he helped clear the dishes off the table. Tifa was going to start the dishes when Reno stopped her. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Giving you _my_ anniversary present." Reno smiled as he backed her up against the kitchen table and unzipped her dress.

* * *

A week later, Tifa reluctantly let Reno try his hand at barbecuing for their guests for Meteorfall Day. Cloud didn't even acknowledge the invitation, but Rufus was the only one who sent a note saying they couldn't attend. Everyone else came: Cid and Shera, Yuffie, Barret and Marlene, Denzel with his relatives, Vincent, Reeve, and Rude and Elena. Red XIII was too busy with his tribe and had let her know before she even sent an invitation, and Tifa was relieve, thinking that his appearance might have caused Miss Fit and Miss Chievous to misbehave.

"Are you happy being married to Reno?" Yuffie whispered to Tifa when they were in the kitchen with Shera, finishing the food preparations. Well, Tifa and Shera were doing the work, Yuffie would just take the trays out, to either put on the outside picnic table or hand to Reno, who was by the grill and having a serious discussion with Cid about proper barbecue techniques. Reno tried to end it by tasering the charcoal to light it.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Tifa responded.

"Because he's…he's Reno, or have you forgotten who he is?" Yuffie pointed out.

"He's my husband and the father of my child, that's who he is." Tifa replied testily. "That reminds me, I better check on Daniel." Tifa washed her hands and then went upstairs to the nursery. He was just waking up from his nap, and Tifa checked his diaper. It was clean, and he started his hungry cry, so she sat down in the rocking chair to breastfeed him. He wasn't happy at first, because she had never used a blanket to cover him while feeding before, but they had never had guests during his meal time before either.

"I'm sorry if I upset you." Yuffie stuck her head into the room.

"It's okay as long as you remember that Reno is the man who gave me my dream of a family and a farm." Tifa said, switching Daniel to her other breast.

"He's really been good to you?" Yuffie needed confirmation that her friend hadn't gone crazy.

"Yes, he has. Even if he's no farmer, at least not yet. Did I tell you about how he made fried chicken last week?" Tifa finished feeding Daniel, and adjusted her bra and top before using the blanket to cover her shoulder for burping her son. Walking downstairs with Daniel, she filled Yuffie in on Reno's antics as he tried to adjust to country life.

Finally all the food was ready and Daniel was placed next to the picnic table in his playpen. As soon as all the guests were seated, Tifa took Reno's hand as they stood at the head of the table, and they thanked everyone for coming and asked for the traditional moment of silence for those who died because of Meteor.

"And for Aerith who helped save us even after she was killed." Marlene added.

* * *

As Tifa and Reno got into bed late that night, she thought about how fun but exhausting the barbecue was. Having Marlene and Denzel be so glad to see her helped ease the pain she still felt at losing them. And she was a bit nervous about letting Daniel make the rounds, but this was his social debut, and everyone wanted a piece of him, Rude and Elena especially to get some experience with a baby, given that she was already halfway through her pregnancy. Plus there was all the work preparing for the barbecue and then cleaning up after it, and Yuffie questioning her relationship with Reno. Tifa had meant what she said though, Reno had done so much for her.

"Thank you." she told her husband.

"For what?" he sleepily asked.

"For being you." Tifa answered as she snuggled against him.


	8. Chapter 8

"I'm telling you, she's happy with him!" Yuffie snapped at Cloud.

"She can't be! I know Tifa, she'd only be happy with me!" Cloud responded heatedly. "She must have been brainwashed."

"The only brainwashing going on is her trying to brainwash Reno into a farmer." Yuffie explained. "If you had come to the barbecue, you'd have seen that for yourself."

"What could she possibly see in him?" Cloud demanded to know.

"She said he gave her her dream of a family and a farm, everyone loved his grilling, and given his reputation and how fast she got pregnant after moving in with him, he's got to be good in bed." Yuffie pointed out. "And how come she moved in with him anyway? Why'd she leave you?"

"That's none of your business." Cloud replied gruffly, meaning it. Just because Tifa had failed to convince him that they needed to get married and he left to get some space, that was no reason for her to go off and shack up with someone like Reno.

"Well, you should have gone to the barbecue and seen it for yourself." Yuffie repeated. "I was curious myself, that's why I agreed to spy on them for you, but there's nothing wrong with Tifa. In fact, I think there's finally something right with her." Yuffie left him to think about that.

* * *

"Where's lunch?" Reno asked as he came into the nursery two weeks after the Meteorfall Day barbecue.

"Sssshhhh!" Tifa warned in a whisper. "Daniel finally fell asleep." She quietly walked out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen, and he followed her. She grabbed a picnic basket with one hand, and Reno's hand with the other, leading him to the big oak tree behind the barn. She grabbed a blanket out of the basket and put it down on the ground. "This is where lunch is." Tifa said, then took out food, napkins, and a thermos out of the basket. "Emily sent over some leftovers from that family reunion they just got back from, as an apology for missing our barbecue, and I thought a picnic would be a great way to eat them. There's lemonade in the thermos."

As they ate, Tifa hoped Reno would be up for the horse riding lesson she planned to give him after this. Reno was just thinking about how pretty Tifa looked in her blue dress with a matching blue ribbon in her hair. "Can we have dessert now?" he asked when she started putting everything back in the basket.

"Did I forget that?" Tifa started looking in the basket.

"I didn't mean food." Reno explained as he slid his hand up her leg. When Tifa turned her head to look at him, he kissed her. As they made love on the picnic blanket, Tifa was grateful that he was so easily aroused. She had meant it when she said she wanted a large family, and with him it shouldn't take much time at all.

"You're still not getting out of your first riding lesson." she teased him as they fixed their clothes.

* * *

"If I die from this, you're the one who has to clean up my splattered brains." Reno said as he eyed the horse that Tifa assured him was a gentle mare.

"You're a Turk, aren't you? Think of this as training for a new vehicle. You mount the horse like this." Tifa demonstrated by putting one of her hands on the saddle horn, a foot in the stirrup, then sprung up and swung her leg over the horse and put her foot in the other stirrup. "If that doesn't work for you yet, we'll tie her to the fence and you can get in the saddle that way."

That night, Reno was grateful as Tifa rubbed liniment all over his sore muscles. He had only tolerated an hour of his 'lesson' before he gave up. After ten minutes he finally got into the saddle, and Tifa had taken his horse's reins and led them around the corral slowly so Reno could get used to the motion. When she demonstrated the different gaits with her horse, his got antsy and when Reno tried to position himself more comfortably in the saddle, the horse took off, cantering around the corral, and Reno managed to stay on for a while, but eventually he found himself in the water trough. Then he had to do a webcam combat demonstration for the new Turk trainees, and Tifa volunteered to help him by posing as the bad guy, but he had been off his game because of the riding lesson, and she easily bested him. He had told the trainees that it was intentional, and the real lesson was to not underestimate your opponent.

* * *

The next afternoon, while Daniel was napping, Tifa was tending her vegetable and herb gardens which were doing so well. The salad greens were already grown enough for harvesting, and so were some of the herbs. But the weeds and grass kept trying to invade her gardens, as well as pests, and she had to be extremely vigilant to ensure healthy plants and therefore healthy food. The only way she could get Reno to eat salads and veggies was to cover them with meat. She picked what she needed for dinner, then went inside to wash the lettuce and spinach off and left it to dry before going to take a quick nap herself.

"It's your turn now." Reno's voice woke her up.

"Time for what?" she sleepily asked, though his hands roaming her body gave her a pretty good idea.

"I'm gonna give you a real riding lesson now." Reno answered.

Tifa smiled as he undressed her. She'd definitely be pregnant again in no time.


	9. Chapter 9

"Come on, we're going to be late!" Tifa excitedly blurted out as she grabbed Daniel's diaper bag and headed outside.

"The parade doesn't even start for another three hours, why are we going now?" Reno complained.

"Because not only is it the first ever Foundation Day, it's Daniel's first outing. I want to get a good spot now before it gets too crowded. Do you have the stroller and the camcorder?"

Once Daniel was safely in his car seat and Tifa made sure they had everything they'd need, they drove towards town, Tifa thinking how excited she was for Reeve. The notion of celebrating the founding of the W.R.O. had gained steam over the last couple years, for all it had done to protect the citizens and the planet. Finally the town leaders globally had decided enough talking had been done, and after some research, had settled on July 7th as the date of the celebration. Reno was just thinking that the Turks should have their own holiday too, since they had taken over the military intelligence department of W.R.O. when Yuffie decided to run the W.R.O. branch in Wutai, and had helped with the evacuations in Midgar from Meteor.

"Now what are we going to do until the parade starts?." Reno wondered.

"Go look at the vendor booths." Tifa replied as she took Daniel out of his car seat and put him in his stroller.

Reno followed Tifa, recording them at her request.

"Oh, look, they have these in children's sizes too!" Tifa exclaimed as she stopped in front of a booth selling replica red berets like the W.R.O. troops wear, with 1st Annual Foundation Day lettering on them. She picked out one small enough for Daniel, and one adult size, paying the vendor, then taking Daniel out of the stroller and picking him up. "I'll trade you the camcorder for your son." she told Reno.

"Why?" Reno asked.

"You'll see." Once Tifa had the camcorder, she put the small beret on Daniel, fussing until she had it looking right, then plopped the adult one Reno's head. "Father and son protectors. Enemies of the planet, beware!" Tifa giggled at Reno's expression, glad that she got this moment on camera.

Reno gave Daniel back to Tifa, and she gave him the camcorder back, then he took the beret off his head and put it on Tifa's. "It looks much better on you." Reno kissed her and Daniel clapped and then put his hands up and pinched his parents' cheeks.

Cloud watched the scene from his hiding place. He couldn't believe Yuffie that Tifa was happy with Reno, he wanted to see them for himself. There had to be something wrong with her, and the only thing that made sense to him was that it wasn't really Tifa. They must have made a clone of her.

Reno noticed a lot of the men looking at Tifa as people starting filling up the sidewalks to watch the parade, and he put his arms around her, glad that he had such an attractive wife. Suddenly he realized they didn't have wedding rings. He felt that knowing they were married was enough, but it might not be for her. He'd have to take care of that soon.

"The parade's starting! Are you recording this?" Tifa asked him as she took Daniel out of his stroller again so he could watch the festivities.

* * *

As they headed back to the car after the community barbecue/potluck following the parade, Tifa felt extremely happy. Not only did she had fun today, but people were starting to think that Reno wasn't such an oddball. And she hoped Daniel had fun too, he looked so cute with his little red beret, even if he had taken it off his head to start slobbering on it. She and Reno were distracted by loading the car back up and getting Daniel in his car seat that they never saw it coming. All of a sudden they saw a flash of sun on metal, and then Reno was crumpled on the asphalt and Tifa felt a hand around her throat, slamming her against the car so hard she got the wind knocked out of her and felt dazed.

"Where is Tifa?" Cloud demanded of her.

"Cloud?" Tifa asked in surprise, unballing her fists. "It's me, I am Tifa. You're not having a flashback again, are you?"

"You don't fool me. Tifa would never be with Reno." Cloud found it hard to continue threatening her. Even if it wasn't his Tifa, it was her clone, and a part of her. He remembered the compassion in her voice all too well.

"People change, Cloud. It doesn't mean I quit caring about what happens to you." Tifa said kindly. "Are you taking your medication?"

"I'll find the real Tifa if it's the last thing I do!" Cloud released her, feeling somewhat ashamed of himself as the baby started crying, so he left them there, sure he would get to the truth.

* * *

"Cloud's gone crazy again?" Reno asked Tifa as she joined him in bed that night.

"No, I think he's just lonely. It must have been a nasty shock for him to try and come back to me, only to find out it was too late." Tifa put her head on Reno's chest.

"Is it too late?" Reno asked her, even though he was suddenly afraid of her answer.

"What do you mean?" Tifa looked up at him.

"Do you want a divorce so you could go back to him?"

"No!" Tifa stated emphatically. "Cloud was right about one thing, I'm not the Tifa he knew. I'm Mrs. Sinclair and Queen of Higglebottom Farm now." She smiled at Reno. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." Tifa kissed him.

Reno expressed his gratitude the best way he knew how, and just before they fell asleep, Tifa decided she'd have to do something about Cloud. She couldn't stand the idea of anyone being so unhappy, especially when it was someone close to her.


	10. Chapter 10

"It's been so long since I've been to a county fair." Tifa said to Reno as she held onto Daniel's stroller while they stood in the admission line.

"I am recording Daniel's first visit to the fair. We waited to get in line to pay to get inside, and we are still waiting…" Reno narrated as he held the camcorder.

"Could you stamp his hand too, please?" Tifa asked when they finally got up front and paid, picking up Daniel and putting him on the counter. When the woman obliged them, Tifa nudged Reno to remind him to record their son's first hand stamp. Reno couldn't help but imagining taking his son to his first strip club, sixteen or so years in the future, and how many stamps he'd end up with, but not all on his hand. He smiled and tousled his son's dark hair.

"Is everything here so expensive?" Reno asked as they walked around, and he saw the prices on the food and merchandise stands, not to mention the tickets for rides and the carnival games.

"Think of this of kinda like the country version of a nightclub, you have to pay a cover fee to get in, and none of the entertainment inside is free. Oh, they have chocobo rides, let's go see if they have one Daniel can ride!" Tifa hurried in that direction, and Reno followed.

There were no chocobos for babies to actually ride, but there was a little cart they could be safely strapped into for a chocobo to pull, and a couple young chocobos for the children to pet. Daniel got a kick out of both events, and then Tifa decided to ride a chocobo and hold Daniel, making sure Reno recorded it. Then they went and looked at the animals for auction and Daniel enjoyed touching them. Tifa hoped he would turn into quite the farmer as he grew up.

"Let's go eat now." Tifa suggested. They found a space at one of the tables by the food vendors, and they took turns watching Daniel while getting what they wanted to eat. "Since you got your food first, why don't you feed Daniel? He's making progress on solid foods, so I got some food he should be able to eat." Tifa told Reno, handing him a plate.

As Reno fed their son, he wondered how soon it would be before he'd see any signs of what abilities he had. Reno made a note to buy some toys for Daniel that would teach him how to take apart and reassemble various pieces of technological equipment and toy weapons for Christmas. Once they were done eating, they all rode the Ferris wheel and Reno insisted at trying his luck at some of the games. Tifa wisely kept silent and ate her funnel cake, knowing it wasn't a fair game, given her husband's special skills, but Daniel loved the stuffed animals the stroller ended up being loaded with.

* * *

When they got back home, while Tifa got Daniel ready for bed, Reno went to the kitchen looking for a snack. When Tifa came downstairs, she reminded him of the cookie jar before she went to milk Jeanine and Betty, and when that was done, they both enjoyed a warm shower courtesy of their solar hot water heater.

"I have an idea and an announcement." Tifa said as they had something to drink in the kitchen while waiting for their hair to dry before going to bed, she had herbal tea and he had decaf coffee.

"What?" Reno asked.

"It's mid-August already, and I don't think we want to ask Henry to help us again when it's harvest time." Tifa said, referring to Emily and Ray Walker's son who plowed and planted the fields for them after Reno damaged the irrigation pipe. "So I was thinking that we could invite Cloud to live with us for a while and help out here on the farm. It's going to be slaughtering time soon too."

Reno stared at his wife. "You want the man who attacked us to live here?"

"I want my childhood friend who saved the world to have a place to stay where he can be around us to figure out it's really me, and I'll be able to make sure he takes his medication." Tifa sipped her tea.

"What would you do if he became violent again?"

"I don't think he will. But even if he was going to, I'd rather have him nearby where we know what he's up to, rather than him attacking us out of the blue like he did on Foundation Day."

"I'll think about it." Reno said after a few moments.

"Thank you." Tifa kissed his cheek, then felt her hair. "Okay, my hair is dry enough to get some sleep now." She finished her tea and put her cup in the sink before heading upstairs, Reno following her. "What is that?" Tifa asked, pointing to a little gift box on her pillow as she walked into their bedroom.

"Well, open it and see." Reno said as he got into his side of the bed.

Tifa gave him a hard look before opening the box. She gasped as she saw the blue diamond wedding ring. "It's beautiful!" she breathed and hurriedly put it on, then kissed her husband. "Oh, let me give you what I was going to give you as a Valentine's Day present until I ended up in the hospital with complications from giving birth." Tifa opened up one of her dresser drawers and took out a medium-sized clothing box.

Reno opened it and held up a pair of boxer shorts with letters made of little hearts that spelled out _PROPERTY OF TIFA_ on the front and the back. "I shall wear them whenever I have to leave on assignment." Reno promised her, folding them up and putting them in one of this drawers. "Wait, you said you had an announcement too, what is it?" he asked.

Tifa got into her side of the bed, then took Reno's hand, noticing his wedding ring for the first time, and put it on her stomach. "Daniel's going to have a brother or sister next year. The doctor confirmed it yesterday."

"We're gonna need a bigger house." Reno finally said.

Tifa laughed. "No, there's plenty of room. We'll just have to finally fix the floor in that one bedroom that you fell through if this is a girl."

As Reno fell asleep, with his hand still on Tifa's stomach, he wondered what was in the air or maybe it was the water. First Tifa gets pregnant with Daniel from just their first night together, then Rude and Elena are having a baby which was due next month, and now Tifa's pregnant again. Maybe he needed to ask Reeve if there was ever such a thing as a baby invasion.


	11. Chapter 11

_Dear Cloud,_  
 _I don't know if you believe I'm really me yet, but I'd like to give you the opportunity to find out. Harvest and slaughter time is coming, and Reno may be a good husband and father, but he's a terrible farmer. I would really appreciate it if you would move in with us and help us out. Especially because I'm pregnant again, and due to the complications last time, I've got to be really careful so nothing happens to me or the baby. Hope to hear from you soon._

 _Love,_  
 _Tifa_

Cloud stared up at the farmhouse, holding the letter in his hand. Yuffie had given it to him, after ranting at him for attacking Reno and Tifa. He didn't know what he was doing here, but maybe he'd find out the truth. He had found nothing to suggest that it wasn't his Tifa who had married Reno, it just didn't make sense to him. He walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. A few moments later, Reno opened the door and the brief surprise in his eyes was replaced by something darker as his eyes narrowed. Then he shrugged and turned his head towards the kitchen.

"It's for you, Tifa!" Reno called out before going back to all his paperwork on the coffee table, deciding what missions for his Turks were priority and which weren't.

"You came!" Tifa said happily when she saw Cloud in the doorway, and hugged him. "I wish you would have let us know first, but it's alright. Let me show you to your room. I'm making lunch right now, so when you're settled in, just come downstairs to the kitchen, it's right there." Tifa pointed towards the kitchen as she led him up the stairs.

"This is my room?" Cloud asked as she stopped in front of one of the smaller bedrooms.

"Yes. I'm sorry it's not that big, but the bigger ones are for the children." Tifa smiled as she patted her stomach. "Oh, one more thing." She took his Buster Sword out of its sheath. "I'm sorry, but until we know we can trust you, we need to keep this in a safe place. Don't worry, you'll have access to it for emergencies, but you can't carry it around yet. I'll go finish lunch now." Tifa kissed him on the cheek. "I'm glad you're here." She left, taking his sword with her, and a few moments later he heard a door close and open.

Cloud put his duffel bag in the closet and sat down on the bed. This felt unreal to him. He was a guest worker essentially, for his childhood sweetheart and her husband who had once been an enemy, and Cloud wasn't positive that he wasn't still one of the bad guys. He laid down for a few moments, then decided to use the bathroom before going down for lunch.

Tifa was feeding her son baby food and Reno was already eating his lunch when Cloud came into the kitchen. "That's your uncle Cloud." Tifa said as she tried to get Daniel to eat some peas. "He'll be staying with us for a while." Standing up, she faced Cloud. "It's make your own salad as you can see, salad mix in the big bowl, and for toppings there's hardboiled eggs, cheese, olives, mushrooms, ham…wait, where's the ham? Reno, did you dump all the ham into your salad?" Tifa put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"Prove it." Reno mumbled, his mouth obviously so full of something that he was having trouble chewing.

Tifa sighed. "Well, if you want more ham, Cloud, just let me know and I'll get some. There's also bacon bits, jalapeno peppers, and red onions. Just homemade vinaigrette for salad dressing." She was distracted by Daniel flipping his bowl of peas onto the floor, and Miss Fit and Miss Chievous hurried over and cleaned it up. Grabbing the bowl, she put it in the sink before washing her hands and sitting down to have her own lunch.

"I'll show you around the place after lunch." Reno said when he could talk properly again.

"I can look around just fine on my own." Cloud replied, then caught Tifa's look. "But you can show me if you want.

As Reno and Tifa laid in bed that night, they reviewed the day's events.

"Do you think he'll prove reliable?" Reno tactfully asked, though they both knew he really meant if Cloud would prove harmless.

"I had him give me his medication so I can make sure he takes it. The Buster Sword is in a safe place. And I gave him the list of things that need to be done around here." Tifa replied, cuddling against him. "Everything will be just fine, you'll see."

Cloud heard the conversation, having his ear against their door. Quietly going back to his bedroom, he hoped that whether it was Tifa or a clone, she was telling the truth and everything would be fine. Now that he had seen the place, he could understand her fascination with it. It was just the kind of place she had talked about wanting when they were kids.

* * *

"Rude! Wake up, Rude!" Elena loudly exclaimed while shaking him.

"What's the big emergency?" Rude sleepily groused. "I wanna go back to sleep."

"Get me to the hospital right now unless you want our baby born here!" Elena snapped at him.

"What?!" Coming totally awake, Rude jumped out of bed and hurriedly got some clothes on and rushed out the door in a panic, then came back moments later and picked up Elena who was putting her bathrobe on, carrying her down to their car and opening the door for her, then going around to the driver's seat and starting to drive off before backing up and putting Elena in the passenger seat, closing the door and getting back in the driver's seat.

"Please don't be anything like your daddy." Elena spoke to her stomach.

Elena's contractions were two minutes apart by the time they got to the hospital. Four hours later, she was holding her baby girl as the doctor and nurses were making sure Rude was okay when he passed out when he saw the baby crowning, and hit his head. "Well, so far you're nothing like your daddy." Elena told her daughter.


	12. Chapter 12

"That's my little man!" Tifa said as she took a picture of Daniel in his Halloween costume, once he smiled at her.

"What is he supposed to be again?" Reno asked as he and Cloud just stared at Tifa as she fussed over her son.

"Bahamut. Isn't he scary?" Tifa tried to get Daniel to make a menacing face.

"He looks like a dead chocobo." Cloud blurted out, looking at the carpet to avoid Tifa's glare.

Reno had been thinking the same thing, but glad he wasn't the one who actually said it. Cloud was actually proving to be good for something, aside from doing the farm work they needed done. Reno wasn't unused to death by any stretch of the imagination, but slaughtering the livestock made him a bit queasy. They had let Cloud have his Buster sword back for that, because he could do at least five animals at a time, saving them a lot of time. And they had lots of meat that they kept in coolers in the root cellar, except for the ham and bacon, which they were curing and smoking first. Reno was thoroughly enjoying that part of the process, the smells of the meat was heavenly.

"Are you two going to dress up as well?" Tifa asked them.

"Why?" Reno and Cloud wondered simultaneously.

"Because my husband is going to take our son trick-or-treating on his first Halloween while I stay and hand out candy here, and my dear childhood friend is going to the adult Halloween party at the community center to make some friends. And if they don't have their own costumes, I shall have to hurry up and make up my own for them."

* * *

Three hours later, Cloud and Reno were dumbly staring at Tifa again as she took pictures of them in their costumes. "Now I'm going to hurry up and change into my costume." Tifa went upstairs and came down a few minutes later in an evening gown with a tiara on her head and Reno's weapon decorated with lace and fake jewels.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Reno asked.

"I am the Queen of Higglebottom Farm, of course."

"You're using my rod!" Reno exclaimed and went to take it back from her, but she activated the taser tip.

"The royal scepter is not for the peons to touch, especially a lowly scarecrow. This will burn your costume up in an instant." Tifa warned him. "And you," she pointed it at Cloud next. "You need to take our picture, or you'll be a real dead chocobo."

Cloud did as directed, figuring that telling Tifa his feathers itched would be a bad idea. He didn't know why some of them looked scorched, but she told him not to ask when she threw his costume together.

"Now go take your son trick-or-treating, and you go to the party. And Reno, remember Daniel is not to have any candy, it's be to saved. I better not find any pieces of candy in your teeth when you get home. And Cloud, you be on your best behavior at the party." Tifa ordered.

Reno picked up Daniel and a little jack o' lantern basket and headed out the door with Cloud.

"What's wrong with her?" Cloud asked Reno.

"Pregnancy hormones, I hope." Reno replied, putting Daniel into his car seat. Cloud put his chocobo beak on before he sped away on his motorcycle.

* * *

Cloud arrived at the party and made a beeline for the spiked punch bowl, where someone dressed up as a cactuar was filling people's cups.

"What are you supposed to be?" the cactuar said, and Cloud realized it was a woman.

"I'm a half-plucked chocobo who's getting a skin rash." Cloud replied.

The cactuar giggled. "You're new here, aren't you?" she asked as she handed Cloud his cup.

"Yeah, I'm staying at Higglebottom Farm." Cloud said, taking his cup to a corner. Taking a sip of the punch, he was debating how much he should drink. He wasn't familiar with the area yet, and didn't trust himself to find his way back to the farm if he got drunk. And even whatever Tifa it was, she'd be pissed off at him when he finally got home, and he'd be drunk so she could easily make him hurt.

* * *

Reno parked the car at the end of the first residential street he came to and got Daniel out of his car seat and into the stroller, grabbing the jack o' lantern basket as well, putting it in his son's lap.

"Come on, little buddy. Let's go score some candy!" The first house was dark, so Reno went to the second one, and a preteen girl opened the door when he knocked. Daniel held out his basket like Tifa had taught him to do.

"Uh, why did you dress up that baby like a dead chocobo?" she asked as she put some candy in the basket.

Reno sighed. Tifa had tried so hard to make a good costume for Daniel. "It's Bahamut."

When Daniel's basket was full, Reno headed back to the car, and was crossing the street when a bunch of teenagers rushed by going the other way. Daniel started crying and when Reno looked down at him and noticed his candy basket was missing. Looking back at the teenagers, he saw one of them with Daniel's basket, laughing and eating some of the candy. A look passed over his face that Rude or Elena would have recognized as trouble. He continued to the car and put Daniel back in his car seat before getting in the driver's seat.

"Don't worry kiddo," Reno said as he started the car. "I'm gonna show you how a Turk handles things." Driving back to where he last saw the teenagers, he activated the dash-cam and continued on in the direction they were headed. Eventually he found them, and he turned the brights on and honked the horn. When the teenagers turned to look towards the sound, Reno burned rubber towards them and they fled. He slammed on the brakes and got out to pick up Daniel's basket that one of them dropped. It was only half-full now, but that was fine. Going back to the car, he gave Daniel his basket back. "Never make a Turk's son cry." Reno said as he started towards home.

* * *

"Why is his basket dented and only half-full?" Tifa asked when she inspected it when they got home.

"It got dropped and I didn't want to put the candy back in there after it had been on the ground." Reno truthfully answered.

"Oh well, he didn't really need all that extra candy anyway." Tifa put Daniel on the couch with his basket so she could get a good picture. "Where are you going?" she asked Reno. "He needs his diaper changed and be put to bed."

"Okay, I can hurry up and do that, but then I've got some extra work to do." Reno said, taking Daniel upstairs. After his son was resting comfortably in his crib, Reno went to his and Tifa's room and took out his laptop from the safe, placing it on the table. He logged in and put the SD card from the dash-cam in it. Isolating the image of the punk who stole Daniel's basket, he hacked into the high school's servers and searched yearbook photos til he found out his name and address.

"Cloud just got home." Tifa said as she walked into the room. Reno hurriedly closed his laptop and got out his cellphone.

"Did he have fun?" Reno asked as he sent out a text message. Moments later, Rude sent a querying response. "Yes, I'm sure." Reno replied out loud, before typing it and sending it to Rude.

"I'm not sure. He just mumbled something about talkative cactuars." Tifa said as she changed into her nightgown.

Reno went into the bathroom and took his costume off before taking a quick shower. He got into his cold weather pajamas, and Tifa was waiting in bed for him. She was feeling frisky now, and that suited Reno. As soon as he got out of the show, he had gotten a text back from Rude that it was done, and a successful mission always fired him up. Their landline phone ringing broke through the silence of their contented afterglow, and Tifa answered it.

"Hello? Oh, hi Emily. No, I haven't. What?! Was anyone hurt? Well, that's good. I wonder what his father is going to do about it. Oh yeah, we were just about to go to bed. Okay, you can come by tomorrow if you're free. Good night." Tifa hung up the phone.

"What was that about?" Reno innocently asked.

Tifa looked suspiciously at him. "The Robinsons were victims of a drug raid just a little bit ago. He's the bank president, she's the leader of the PTA, and according to Emily, their son Doug is the class bully. Anyway, apparently it was a case of an anonymous but reliable tip, and somehow they ended up at the wrong address. But the officer in charge did find a small amount of drugs in Doug's room. He's being held without bail until it's all straightened out. I suppose it's just one of those things, isn't it?" Tifa asked him in a sharp tone.

Reno just shrugged. "It's a crazy world we live in." Ignoring the look he felt Tifa give him, he turned on his side and acted like he was going to sleep. When she went to sleep herself, a vindictive smile appeared on Reno's face. "Never make a Turk's son cry." he said under his breath before falling asleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Tifa woke up early to start getting everything ready for their first Thanksgiving as a family, already grateful that Cloud kept the fire going all night. There was less for her to do, and with having to be careful with this pregnancy, she needed all the help she could get. And she enjoyed being able to spend more time with Daniel. Walking downstairs to the kitchen, she was surprised to see Cloud there, drinking some coffee. Tifa made herself some cocoa.

"Thanks for all you've done around here." she told Cloud. "We really appreciate it."

"I screwed up, didn't I?" Cloud asked.

"What do you mean?" Tifa sipped her cocoa.

"This could have been us, if I hadn't screwed up." Cloud gestured to indicate the house and farm.

"Well, not this farm, but as for us, I can't say. We had our chance, and things happened differently. But I love Reno and wouldn't trade my life now for anything." Tifa smiled as she caressed her stomach, which was just beginning to show. "You'll find someone else and be happy too." She stood up and patted Cloud on the shoulder before heading upstairs to get Daniel, but she nearly bumped into Reno walking into the kitchen holding him.

"There's my little man." Tifa said, taking her son from his father and putting him in his high chair before starting to cook breakfast.

Reno drank his coffee, watching Tifa. He hadn't meant to listen in on her conversation with Cloud, but he had, and hearing her tell Cloud that it was over between them because she loved Reno and was happy now, that had relieved some of the stress he felt at Tifa inviting her childhood sweetheart to live with them for a while. The rest of the stress would go away once it was proven that Cloud wouldn't attack them again.

After breakfast, Cloud went to catch and slaughter a turkey, while Tifa cleaned up and Reno put Daniel in his playpen before going upstairs to take care of some work. Tifa thought about his work while she did the dishes. She suspected that mistaken drug raid on the Robinson family was his doing, but she couldn't figure out why he did it. And at least no one got hurt. She had to remind him to be careful, she didn't want any of his questionable activities to come back and hurt their family. But to be fair, his actions had been a lot less questionable since he joined W.R.O. She was proud of him for having such an important job with the organization.

Cloud came back with the turkey carcass as she put the last dish in the drying rack. "Here ya go." he said, flopping it down on the counter before going to collect eggs and milk Betty and Jeanine.

Tifa hurriedly moved the turkey into the sink to let the rest of the blood go down the drain. She wiped the counter clean of the blood, and as she plucked the turkey, she contented herself with the thought that these feathers would be for his next year's chocobo costume.

By lunchtime, Tifa had almost everything ready. She just had to put the pies in the oven at the appropriate time. She told Cloud and Reno they could get themselves something from the root cellar to eat. After she fed Daniel his homemade baby food, she put him down for a nap and then took a shower and got dressed just in time for the company to start arriving.

Rude and Elena arrived first, with baby Anna. They put her in the playpen to finish the nap, which Cloud had moved into the living room for them. Tifa had insisted he wear something nice for some reason, but he didn't feel comfortable in the suit and tie. A little while later, Yuffie and Vincent arrived, followed by the Walkers. Everyone gathered in the living room by the fire, making small talk or attempting to.

"Do I know you?" Cloud asked the pretty brunette who had come in with the Walkers.

"I'm Emma Walker, Emily and Ray are my aunt and uncle." she said. Cloud just stared at her. She seemed so familiar, and he was sure he had heard her voice before, but he couldn't place her.

Tifa smiled as she came back into the living room and saw Cloud and Emma talking. When Emily told her why Emma wanted to come, she was ecstatic at the chance to fix Cloud up with someone. "Dinner's ready!"

When they all assembled at the kitchen table, Reno pulled out Tifa's chair for her, causing Yuffie to smile and Elena to glare at Rude, who just plopped down in his chair and started to fill his plate. Once the traditional courtesies of expressing gratitude from the hosts to the guests and vice versa, Reno started carving the turkey, this time not cutting himself. A very congenial meal followed.

"Thank you all for coming." Tifa told the Walkers as they left early to get their farm chores done before dark.

"I had a nice time." Emma told Cloud as he walked her out to the truck. She impulsively kissed his cheek before she got in her seat in the extended cab. "I bet you've never been kissed by a cactuar before." she said before closing the door. Cloud just stared after the truck as it drove down the driveway. He hadn't recognized her without the green makeup.

* * *

Tifa handed Reno a pen and a piece of paper before joining him in bed late that night after she finished putting leftovers away and cleaning up the kitchen.

"What's this for?" he asked.

"I want to start a new Thanksgiving tradition. We write down everything we're thankful for, but we don't show it to anyone, it's just for us to look at when we need to." Tifa said as she started writing on her own paper.

Reno shrugged and started writing. _I am thankful that I have a beautiful wife who loves me. I am thankful that she's pregnant again and has to be careful so she quit trying to give me horse riding lessons. I am thankful that she's fixing Cloud up with someone so he'll get laid and quit being a nuisance. I am thankful that Tifa and Daniel survived his birth. I am thankful Tifa let me eat most of Daniel's first Halloween haul. I am thankful that I don't have to try and milk Betty and Jeanine anymore. I'm thankful that Tseng left me this farm so I ended up with a hot wife and great sex. I'm thankful that Tifa doesn't mind much if I use the Turks to get back at someone who upset our kid, provided no one gets hurt._

"You're done already?" Tifa asked Reno as she watched him put his list in his nightstand.

"Yep."

Tifa looked at him for a moment before finishing her own list. _I'm thankful I'm having a girl this time. I'm thankful Reno proved to be such a good husband and father. I'm thankful Emma is really interested in Cloud. I'm thankful that Daniel is such a happy boy. I'm thankful that I have my dream farm. I'm thankful Reno's feelings about Cloud will cause him to want to prove he can be a farmer and we won't need Cloud's help. I'm thankful that Cloud is taking his medication and seems okay. I'm thankful that Reno trusts me to know whether Cloud is safe or not. I'm thankful Reno called me for help with Higglebottom Farm. I'm thankful that Reno makes getting pregnant so enjoyable. I'm thankful that when he indulges in foolishness with his job, he's smart enough to not get caught. I'm thankful that Reno's a good provider. I'm thankful that 7th Heaven burned down so that I could have this life. I'm thankful that Reno doesn't object when I ask him to do things like this list. I'm thankful that Reno hasn't tasered me again. I'm thankful that the doctors assured me I can have as many children as I want, but I just have to be careful when I get pregnant. I'm thankful that I have a husband who would not hesitate to take any means necessary to protect his family, consequences be damned. Most importantly I'm thankful that I have so much to be thankful for._

Tifa put her list in her nightstand and turned over to look at Reno. "I love you." she said, smiling at him.

"I love you too." Reno said, reaching over to turn Tifa's lamp off. She was about to protest because she wanted to read the next chapter in a book Emily had loaned her, but she felt Reno's hand between her legs and a moan escaped her lips. She was also thankful that he was such a horny beast at times.


End file.
